SUMMARY

Eric Migi discusses Pebble Time 2 pre-production watches, sustainability efforts, and announces 100% open-sourcing of Pebble software, including OS, mobile app, and app store enhancements for longevity.

STATEMENTS

• The Pebble community has raised concerns about the sustainability and longevity of Pebble products, services, and software since the original company's closure in 2016.
• Sustainability for Pebble means ensuring watches continue to work long into the future, with ongoing manufacturing of hardware and software, and maintenance of the app store.
• Eric Migi, as the founder of Core Devices, is committed to building a small, profitable company to sustain Pebble production without venture capital dependencies.
• Pebble Time 2 features screws on the back cover, allowing users to replace the battery and extend the watch's lifespan beyond five to ten years.
• Core Devices has published the electrical and mechanical design files for Pebble 2 Duo on GitHub, enabling community hardware development compatible with PebbleOS.
• Previously, only about 90-95% of Pebble software was open source; now, it is 100% open source, including PebbleOS, the mobile app, and developer tools.
• PebbleOS, open-sourced by Google, serves as the foundation for the relaunch, with all improvements by Core Devices released under an Apache 2 license.
• The new Pebble mobile app was rebuilt from scratch in Kotlin multi-platform to address outdated ecosystem issues from the original app.
• The Rebble Foundation preserved the original Pebble App Store's 15,000 watch faces and apps after Fitbit's shutdown, but it remained centralized and vulnerable.
• The new Pebble mobile app now supports multiple app store feeds, allowing decentralized distribution similar to open-source package managers.
• Core Devices' app store feed archives all apps and watch faces to archive.org daily, ensuring backups if servers fail.
• Pebble Time 2 is in design verification testing (DVT), with production verification test (PVT) planned for December, aiming for mass production in late December or January.
• Chinese New Year in late January will disrupt manufacturing, delaying bulk production until February-March, with initial shipments of a few thousand units by then.
• Pebble Time 2 pre-order confirmations for color choices will be emailed soon from info@rePebble.com, without prior announcements.
• Pebble Time 2 uses polycarbonate and stainless steel construction, with a PVD coating, and features a larger screen that scales older watch faces and apps.
• The back of Pebble Time 2 can be unscrewed with a T2 Torx bit to access the battery, heart rate monitor, and other internals while maintaining waterproofing.
• Notifications on Pebble Time 2 display more text due to the larger screen, improving readability compared to older models like Pebble Time Steel.
• The touchscreen on Pebble Time 2 is functional in testing, opening possibilities for new apps and games.

IDEAS

• Open-sourcing everything from software to hardware schematics democratizes innovation, allowing the community to sustain and expand Pebble beyond any single company's lifespan.
• Building a small, self-funded company avoids the pitfalls of venture-backed startups, ensuring steady, long-term hardware production without external pressures.
• User-replaceable batteries in smartwatches address a key failure point, turning disposable devices into maintainable ones for decades of use.
• Rebuilding mobile apps in modern frameworks like Kotlin multi-platform bridges legacy software with current ecosystems, preventing obsolescence.
• Decentralized app stores with multiple feeds mimic robust open-source repositories, making digital ecosystems resilient to single points of failure.
• Archiving app content to public sites like archive.org ensures cultural and functional preservation, even if commercial servers vanish.
• Scaling older watch faces automatically on larger screens preserves legacy content while enhancing user experience without forced updates.
• A polycarbonate layer isolating the Bluetooth antenna combines aesthetics with functionality, preventing signal interference from the body.
• Pre-production demos reveal iterative design, where unfinished elements like colors and coatings invite community feedback for refinement.
• Touchscreen integration in a low-power RTOS like PebbleOS could spawn interactive apps, blending e-paper efficiency with modern input methods.
• Lessons from shipping Pebble 2 Duo streamline scaling production for Time 2, turning past challenges into operational advantages.
• Color pops in materials like Rivian blue inspire automotive influences in wearables, merging industrial design with personal tech appeal.

INSIGHTS

• True sustainability in tech products requires not just initial innovation but ongoing community stewardship, turning users into co-maintainers through open access.
• Small-scale, profitable operations foster longevity by prioritizing stability over explosive growth, avoiding the burnout common in big-tech ventures.
• Open-sourcing companion apps eliminates platform dependencies like app store fees, empowering users to sideload and adapt software indefinitely.
• Decentralization in app distribution mirrors biological resilience, where no single failure can collapse the entire ecosystem of creative content.
• Hardware modularity, like replaceable batteries, shifts consumer mindset from planned obsolescence to repair culture, extending device lifecycles dramatically.
• Archival backups of digital assets on neutral platforms safeguard against corporate whims, preserving communal creations as public heritage.
• Larger screens in legacy devices highlight backward compatibility's value, allowing evolution without discarding invested user time and creativity.
• Global manufacturing rhythms, like Chinese New Year, underscore supply chain vulnerabilities, necessitating buffer strategies for predictable delays.
• Personal commitment from founders, rooted in early user passion, builds trust more effectively than promises, as actions like full open-sourcing demonstrate resolve.

QUOTES

• "By damn I'll be the last user of Pebble."
• "Actions do speak louder than words."
• "PebbleOS is a fantastic piece of software and it's a very rare RTOS that offers a real consumer kind of UI/UX experience."
• "If I or Core Devices disappeared into a time bobble, you can download the source code, you can compile it, and you can use it on your iPhone or Android phone."
• "This makes it not reliant on our servers. And at any point if our servers were to disappear, you could download a copy, stand up your own Pebble app store feed."
• "It's the most, it's by far the most openable Pebble that we've ever made."
• "You can see so much more text. Um, it's kind of crazy going back to, uh, say like a Pebble time steel and seeing, um, what that looks like."

HABITS

• Funding hardware projects personally to maintain control and avoid investor influences.
• Publishing daily updates to GitHub for all software improvements to foster transparency.
• Testing pre-production units personally to identify issues early in development.
• Engaging directly with community feedback through conversations and blog posts.
• Archiving project assets regularly to public repositories for long-term preservation.
• Iterating on designs based on past experiences, like learning from previous shipping challenges.

FACTS

• The original Pebble Tech Corporation ceased operations nine years ago, leaving the community to sustain the ecosystem independently.
• PebbleOS uses an Apache 2 license, which does not mandate open-sourcing derivatives but Core Devices chose to do so voluntarily.
• The Rebble Foundation preserved nearly 15,000 watch faces and apps from the original App Store after Fitbit's 2018 shutdown.
• Apple requires $99 annual fees for app store presence, which led to the original Pebble app's removal post-company closure.
• Chinese New Year 2024 begins mid-to-late January, halting Asian factories for three weeks and delaying production restarts.
• Pebble Time 2's back cover uses four T2 Torx screws, with an O-ring seal for waterproofing.

REFERENCES

• Rebble Foundation blog post on sustainability.
• Eric Migi's response blog post to Rebble.
• Google open-sourcing PebbleOS in January.
• Pebble 2 Duo schematic on GitHub.
• Steve's Droidcon talk on Kotlin multi-platform.
• Original Pebble SDK and developer tools.
• Libpebble3 building block library.
• Archive.org for daily app store backups.
• Block Slide watch face.
• Nine Cats watch face.
• Pixel Time watch face.
• Multi-time zone edit watch face.

HOW TO APPLY

• Confirm your Pebble Time 2 pre-order by responding to the upcoming email from info@rePebble.com, selecting your preferred color without prior inquiries.
• Download and compile the now fully open-source Pebble mobile app from GitHub using Kotlin multi-platform tools to customize or sideload on iOS or Android.
• Access multiple app store feeds in the new Pebble app once approved, browsing and installing from decentralized sources to ensure availability.
• Replace the battery in Pebble Time 2 by unscrewing the back with a T2 Torx bit, disconnecting the flexible connector, and swapping the unit while preserving the waterproof seal.
• Develop hardware compatible with PebbleOS by referencing the published Pebble 2 Duo schematics on GitHub, starting with the quick-start guide for custom builds.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

Embrace open-source sustainability to ensure Pebble's hardware and software endure beyond any single entity's lifespan.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Prioritize self-funding for hardware startups to avoid venture capital's growth-at-all-costs pressures.
• Fully open-source companion apps early to mitigate platform lock-in and empower user independence.
• Design devices with user-replaceable components like batteries to combat electronic waste.
• Implement decentralized feeds for app ecosystems, backing up to public archives for resilience.
• Test pre-production units rigorously, incorporating community input to refine unfinished elements like coatings.
• Learn from global supply disruptions by building production buffers, such as early small-batch manufacturing.
• Scale legacy content automatically on new hardware to maintain user investment without mandatory overhauls.
• Foster developer monetization through improved payment integrations beyond basic in-app purchases.

MEMO

In a bustling revival of a beloved smartwatch legacy, Eric Migi, founder of Core Devices, unboxes the first pre-production batch of Pebble Time 2 units during a recent Tick Talk episode. These e-paper wonders, successors to the original Pebble that captivated Kickstarter backers a decade ago, arrive amid a community yearning for assurance. The original Pebble Tech's 2016 demise left users in limbo, with watches ticking on but apps vanishing from stores due to unpaid fees. Migi addresses this head-on, pledging a sustainable path through a lean, self-funded operation that sidesteps venture pitfalls, ensuring steady manufacturing without the boom-and-bust cycles of yesteryear.

Central to this relaunch is an unyielding commitment to open source, now elevated to 100% across Pebble's ecosystem. Previously, only the SDK was accessible; today, PebbleOS—the real-time operating system that powers the watches—joins the fully rebuilt mobile app in Kotlin multi-platform and developer tools on GitHub. This move, inspired by Google's 2023 release of PebbleOS under Apache 2, allows anyone to compile, modify, and deploy code. Migi reflects on past pains: iPhone users sidelined for years without an official app, a void the Rebble Foundation patched with a centralized store preserving 15,000 community creations. Now, the new app supports multiple feeds, echoing open-source package managers, while daily archives to archive.org guard against server failures.

Hardware sustainability takes tangible form in Pebble Time 2's design. Screws secure the back cover, enabling battery swaps—a fix for the original's sealed fate after five to ten years. Published schematics for the Pebble 2 Duo invite tinkerers to craft compatible devices, from watches to beyond. Migi demos the prototypes: a larger 1.9-inch screen scales vintage watch faces like Block Slide and Nine Cats, displaying notifications with unprecedented clarity. Colors pop—black-on-black, Rivian blue accents—via polycarbonate and PVD-coated steel, with a plastic layer isolating the Bluetooth antenna for reliable connectivity.

Production hurdles loom, however. Amid design verification, Chinese New Year's January shutdown threatens delays, pushing mass output to February-March and deliveries to spring. Yet lessons from shipping Pebble 2 Duo bolster confidence: small batches in January could fulfill initial pre-orders, with color confirmations emailed soon. Internals revealed—a heart rate monitor, linear actuator, touchscreen in testing—promise interactivity, from games like Obelisk to multi-timezone faces for globe-trotters.

This relaunch isn't mere nostalgia; it's a blueprint for tech longevity. By decentralizing software, modularizing hardware, and centering community, Migi ensures Pebble thrives as a collaborative endeavor. As he quips, he'll be its last user—actions proving words, fostering a ecosystem where innovation persists, unbowed by corporate tides.